NEW DELHI, February 8: The annual rate of inflation climbed up marginally by 0.03 percentage point to 5.81 per cent for the week ended January 24, despite a slight improvement in the prices of food articles. The inflation, based on the wholesale price index (WPI), rose to 5.81 per cent (provisional) compared to 5.78 per cent (P) the week before and 7.53 per cent in the corresponding week of last year.The latest week saw a marked improvement in the prices of food articles and food products, which have been on the rise for last few weeks due to the unusual behaviour of the southwest monsoon and the cold wave sweeping the North. The price of vegetables, which rose by 16.62 per cent in the previous five weeks, came down by 3.2 per cent in the week under reference. The index for "all commodities" (base:1981-82=100) during the week stood at 338.5 (P), up 0.1 per cent from 338.3 (P) in the previous week.Inflation based on final index stood at 4.4 per cent for the week ended November 29 (the latest available)as against 4.0 per cent on the provisional index. The final index for all commodities for the week was 332.4.
